Tech Question/Poll to BT and others

[Universe Prince]

I'll have to give it a try. Thanks, Amianthus.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I use AVG free and Firefox, and have found Avira (free version) to be useful in finding anything that AVG misses. If you use them both, you must load Avira last: AVG will not work with Avira in place.

I think that IE is a lot more unsafe because those who write viruses tend to write them for IE. Nearly every really annoying virus I have gotten has been while using IE.

[kimba1]

exactly

IE will always be the biggest target ,since it the most used.

but as mozilla gets more popular it`ll get more attacks.

but it is interesting about anti-viruses.
what is the reason for it?
ex. malware will make a popup that you need thier services, but never fixes the problem.

I kinda doubt they makes the big bucks with this scam

[Xavier_Onassis]

The guys designing the malware seek to rip off people once. They probably have a program that they downloaded and altered that will locate other malware. Then they offer to scan your system for free (usually after telling you that you have one malware program that they put on your computer). I imagine that a certain number of chumps will pay them the $29.95 or whatever for their bogus malware removal program, and it takes a while for the scam to become apparent. By then they are long gone and have moved to another address. It seems pretty clear that they are in it for the money.

[Amianthus]

In addition to XO's explanation - which is one of the reasons for creating malware - the other two main reasons are:

• Log and periodically transmit information, especially financial information, about the computer's users for purposes of identity theft
• Join your computer to "botnets" that are used for a variety of malicious purposes included distributed denial of service attacks and distributed hacking of secure systems

[kimba1]

tell me if I`m wrong

when I get a suspected malware I`d go to my program files look for anything that got added and delete it.

sometime I use search to find anything with the same name(ex, malware defender) so I can remove it.

it seems to work.

please tell me if this is lame

[Xavier_Onassis]

I have removed several malware programs by writing down the name3s of the malware and then reading what it says about it on the Internet. Often you can find directions for removal. Sometimes it is as simple as finding a 1 in the Registry and changing it to 0. This require that you look up the specific item and their location in the registry first.

NEVER pay the people who first informed you of the malware. Odds are (a) it won't work, and you will have lost your money, and (2) there is a free or cheaper program that WILL work. Avira is especially good, but downloading the free version requires that you look CAREFULLY at each page before you get to the download.

[kimba1]

oh yes
very very important
always keep a notepad handy near a computer.
this has always been useful in so many ways.
it seems obvious but very few people do this.

[Kramer]

oh yes
very very important
always keep a notepad handy near a computer.
this has always been useful in so many ways.
it seems obvious but very few people do this.

kimba my last poll indicated that 82% have notepads by their desktop PC but only 29% have them next to their laptops.

[kimba1]

I missed that one
I totally believe about the laptop.
I`m guessing it has something to do about a different type of user.
desktop and laptop has differing usage

ex. my laptop is more used for work than desktop .

[Michael Tee]

I caught this one late.  I've been using Firefox for about a year now, no virus problems at all.  My ISP includes antivirus programming as part of the service, which happened around the time when I switched from IE to Firefox so it's hard to tell which is responsible for my freedom from viruses and annoying pop-ups.

[Christians4LessGvt]

"I know crap about computers,but what exactly is wrong with your computer?"

I got a Trojan while watching a YouTube video.
The tech said it may have not been the Youtube video but an ad on that page
It is the Trojan that pretends to be scanning your computer, but is actually the virus.
I've got a version of it before.
It basically shuts down your sytem....system restore doesnt work
and it prevents most virus scans from finishing

so yeah the evil that produce something like this need to
be jailed for 1st offense and executed upon 2nd offense!

is it the same problem or different everytime?

It's usually different...

unrelated do you do standard maintenance stuff?
ex. defrag

Yes I do clean out cookies, and defrag

this may sound simple but 60% of people I ask don`t know that word

LOL...true

[Christians4LessGvt]

On Firefox.....I have my bookmarks across the top.....most of the websites show up with icons next to the name....but then like a few dont show up with the icon....why is that?

[Amianthus]

On Firefox.....I have my bookmarks across the top.....most of the websites show up with icons next to the name....but then like a few dont show up with the icon....why is that?

They don't have icons defined.

[kimba1]

did you view youtube on mozilla?

I youtube all the time.
now your making me nervous

it`s definately time to update and do a scan today.